The screaming started just before 6 p.m. on Monday, piercing through the walls of the Glenbrook at Chester apartments with enough force that a neighbor grabbed her phone and dialed 911.
“Wailing and screaming,” the neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, told reporters. She stayed on the line with dispatchers, describing what she heard from the unit next door. By the time Chesterfield County police arrived at the Chester Road complex, 28-year-old Kassidy Leigh Via was dead from a gunshot wound.
Police arrested 32-year-old Calvin Ray Berger at the scene and charged him with second-degree murder. Court records indicate Berger and Via knew each other, though authorities have not publicly detailed the nature of their relationship. The investigation remains active.
For the neighbor who called 911, the sounds from that evening have not faded. She told WRIC she remains deeply shaken, unable to reconcile the ordinary Monday she expected with the violence that unfolded feet from her own front door.
The shooting adds to a troubling pattern in the Richmond region, where domestic violence incidents frequently escalate before intervention can occur. Chesterfield County, with a population exceeding 370,000, processed more than 2,800 domestic-related calls for service in 2023, according to county police data. Advocates for domestic violence prevention have long argued that such statistics represent only a fraction of actual incidents, with many victims never reporting abuse until it turns fatal.
The Glenbrook at Chester complex sits along a busy commercial corridor in the Chester area, a rapidly growing section of the county that has seen significant residential development over the past decade. Neighbors described the complex as generally quiet, a place where working families and young professionals rent one and two-bedroom units. Monday’s violence shattered that perception.
Virginia law treats second-degree murder as an unpremeditated killing committed with malice, carrying a potential sentence of five to 40 years in prison. Berger is being held without bond at the Chesterfield County Jail. His first court appearance has not yet been scheduled.
For those living near the crime scene, the legal process offers little immediate comfort. The neighbor who called 911 said she’s considering whether she can continue living in the apartment where she heard Via’s final moments. Some sounds, she suggested, you cannot unhear.
Anyone experiencing domestic violence can contact the Virginia Family Violence and Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-838-8238.
- Kassidy Leigh Via, 28, was killed in a shooting at the Glenbrook at Chester apartments Monday evening
- Calvin Ray Berger, 32, was arrested at the scene and charged with second-degree murder
- A neighbor who called 911 reported hearing ‘wailing and screaming’ before police arrived